In in interview with Paste Magazine, Sufjan Stevens acknowledged that maybe that whole “Hey, you know what? I think I’m gonna make a record for each of the 50 states!” thing was sort of a mistake, since he never managed to complete another after Illinoise, which Paste just named the best album of the decade.

“The whole premise was such a joke,” he told Paste, “and I think maybe I took it too seriously. I started to feel like I was becoming a cliché of myself.”

I think maybe he means he was becoming a parody of himself, in which case, sure, I guess. It’s not exactly clear to me, though, how deciding instead to write a long-form concept album about the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, complete with an accompanying film and a full orchestra is any less a parody of his persona. Perhaps if he takes a moment to recognize that that persona is actually a parody of all of indie rock culture, with the precociousness, the preciousness, the general sense of wonder at the world, and comes to grips with it the way so many of his fans have, his “existential crisis” will finally come to an end. [via NME]